Notebook: Stevenson doesn't want any excuses from 'uncrowned champ' Conceicao
Davis aims to shine in co-feature; Katie Taylor fight set; Shields-Marshall card rescheduled; FITE in Focus; Paul-Silva undercard; Quick hits; Show and tell
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When Shakur Stevenson dropped and easily outpointed Oscar Valdez to unify the WBO and WBC junior lightweight titles April 30 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas the victory crowned him as the widely recognized No. 1 fighter in the world at 130 pounds.
But top contender Robson Conceicao didn’t necessarily agree with that assessment because he — and many — felt that he deserved the decision against Valdez when they met last September. In the end, Valdez received a heavily disputed unanimous decision, 115-112, 115-112 and 117-110, that left Conceicao as the uncrowned champion to many.
In fact, Days after the fight, judge Stephen Blea, with 30 years of experience but who turned in the shocking 117-110 scorecard, did something virtually unheard of: He issued a lengthy apology for his scoring and said he got it wrong upon re-watching the bout.
If Conceicao is an uncrowned champion, Stevenson has a chance to leave no doubt as to the identity of the real junior lightweight champion because he will defend his belts against Conceicao in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Friday (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET; prelims on ESPN+ beginning at 6 p.m. ET) at Prudential Center in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
Two-division titleholder Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs), 25, a southpaw, who will be making his second defense, believes Valdez beat Conceicao, but is still giving him the title shot.
“He’s a good fighter,” Stevenson said at a news conference at the arena on Wednesday. “But I think he lost against Valdez. If you left it in the judges’ hands, then you lost. I fought Valdez, and I beat the shit out of him. I don’t have any excuses. He’s talking about having Covid or something before his last fight. All I hear are excuses. I’m ready to fight. Tell him to not have any excuses on Friday night. I’m ready to beat him up.”
Conceicao (17-1, 8 KOs), 33, a three-time Olympian, who won a 2016 Olympic gold medal for Brazil in front of his home crowd in Rio de Janeiro, views this fight as his second chance to get the title he believes he was robbed of last year against Valdez.
“I’m very motivated. I’ve trained all my life for this moment,” Conceicao, who rebounded from the loss to Valdez for a near-shutout 10-round decision over then-undefeated Xavier Martinez on Jan. 29, said through an interpreter. “The world was able to see that I was better than Oscar Valdez. I should have won. So, he’s not really defending two titles because one should have been mine. I’m a champion without a crown, and I’m ready for Friday night.
“Shakur is someone that I really respect. He’s a great athlete. I can tell that he’s young, probably overly excited and speaks a little too much. This coming Friday, there will only be one champ, and that champ is me.”
Davis set for co-feature
In the eight-round co-feature, blue-chip lightweight prospect Keyshawn Davis (5-0, 4 KOs), 23, of Norfolk, Virginia, who claimed a silver medal at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will face Omar Tienda (25-5, 18 KOs), 34, of Mexico, who has won seven fights in a row by knockout and only been stopped once (in 2013).
Davis is looking forward to fighting on his second Stevenson card in a row, having stopped Esteban Sanchez in the sixth round of a one-sided fight on the Stevenson-Valdez show in April.
“The talent that Shakur and I have is extraordinary. We both get to show our talent back to back,” Davis said. “Just like I said last time in Las Vegas when I fought alongside him, the fans are going to be the winners at the end of the night. And that’s definitely what happened. We’re definitely looking forward to just giving the fans what they came out and paid for.”
As for Tienda, Davis was not willing to say he was his best pro opponent, as many see him being.
“Is he my toughest opponent yet? I don’t know. I’m going to wait and see,” Davis said. “I’m hoping that it’s a great fight for me so that I can keep learning and developing. I’m more than prepared for this fight, both mentally and physically.”
Katie Taylor defense set
Undisputed women’s lightweight champion Katie Taylor, coming off her epic battle with Amanda Serrano on April 30 at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York, will next defend her crown against Karen Elizabeth Carabajal on Oct. 29 (DAZN) at the OVO Arena Wembley in London, Matchroom Boxing announced on Wednesday.
“It's hard to believe it's been almost six years since I made by pro debut there so it's great to go back now and headline,” Taylor said of the venue where she made her 2016 professional debut. “It's been an amazing journey so far but there are still lots of great fights out there for me and I'm excited about what's still to come.”
There were talks for an immediate rematch between Taylor and Serrano after Taylor’s thrilling split decision win, but they didn’t get very far. Instead, Taylor (21-0, 6 KOs), 36, of Ireland, will make her 14th title defense against Carabajal (19-0, 2 KOs), 32, of Argentina, who is promoted by former two-division titleholder Marcos Maidana.
“I was very happy when I received the offer to challenge Katie,” Carabajal said. “The hard work has paid off. I'm not thinking for a second about giving Katie a win. All the belts with come back to Argentina with me.”
In the co-feature, Jordan Gill (27-1-1, 8 KOs), 28, of England, will defend the European featherweight title for the first time when he faces former featherweight and junior featherweight world titlist Kiko Martinez (43-11-2, 30 KOs), 36, of Spain. The bout is also an eliminator for the IBF featherweight title held by Josh Warrington, who knocked out Martinez in the seventh round in March to claim the belt.
Shields-Marshall new date
Boxxer has made official what was expected: The all-women’s card featuring the undisputed middleweight title fight between rivals Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall and the three-belt junior lightweight unification bout between Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner has been rescheduled for Oct. 15 (ESPN+ in the U.S., Sky Sports in the U.K.) at The O2 in London.
The card was scheduled for Sept. 10 at The O2 but was postponed the day before — just prior to the weigh-in — due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Boxxer said at the time it was looking to reschedule for Oct. 15 and now that is a done deal. Tickets for the original date are valid for the new date.
Three-division champion Shields (12-0, 2 KOs), 27, of Flint, Michigan, who currently holds three of the 160-pound titles, and WBO titleholder Marshall (12-0, 10 KOs), 31, of England, have long-running feud, making their fight one of the most anticipated in women’s boxing.
Shields, who was the undisputed middleweight champion before vacating the belt that Marshall eventually won, is seeking to avenge her only boxing loss. She was 77-1 as an amateur and won two Olympic gold medals but lost a 14-8 decision as a teenager to Marshall in a disputed 2012 bout.
Mayer (17-0, 5 KOs), 32, Shields’s 2016 U.S. Olympic teammate from Los Angeles, and Baumgardner (12-1, 7 KOs), 28, of Bingham Farms, Michigan, have been trash talking each other for months.
FITE in Focus
The legendary Floyd Mayweather returns to the ring for a three-round, 155-pound boxing exhibition bout against two-division MMA champion Mikuru Asakura on Saturday (FITE, Integrated Sports PPV, PPV.com, 11 p.m. ET, $29.99) at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, as part of the Rizin Fighting Federation’s MMA card. I joined my friends at FITE for a FITE in Focus show to preview and discuss Mayweather’s fourth exhibition since retiring 50-0 in 2017. Check it out here:
Paul-Silva undercard
Two of the fights for the televised undercard of the Jake Paul-Anderson Silva fight were announced this week.
Lightweight prospect Ashton Sylve (7-0, 7 KOs), 18, of Long Beach, California, who is promoted by Paul’s MVP Promotions, will face Braulio Rodriguez (20-4, 17 KOs), 33, of the Dominican Republic, in an eight-rounder at a contract weight of 133 pounds in one of the bouts added to the card on Oct. 29 (Showtime PPV, 9 p.m. ET) at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Sylve-Rodriguez was originally slated for Aug. 6 at New York’s Madison Square Garden on the undercard of Paul’s bout with Hasim Rahman Jr., which was canceled a week beforehand due to Rahman’s weight issues.
“This is my toughest opponent yet,” Sylve said.
Also on the pay-per-view telecast will be a boxing match between Chris Avila (1-1 as a boxer), 29, of Stockton, California, a veteran MMA fighter, who has fought for UFC and Bellator, and YouTube personality “Dr. Mike” Mikhail Varshavski in a four-rounder at a contract weight of 185 pounds.
“I am giving him a height advantage, a reach advantage and a medical degree advantage. It’s whatever though,” said Avila, who will be appearing on his second Paul undercard and who is a training partner of UFC star Nate Diaz. “If he wants to go to boxing fantasy camp, then I’m glad to give him the lesson he wants.”
Varshavski, who is a family physician by trade and a social media influencer with nearly 23 million followers, will be making his professional debut. In May, he defeated YouTube personality Ian “iDubbbz” Washburn in an exhibition on the “Creator Clash” card.
“As a practicing physician, I’ve taken an oath to do no harm, but when those exam gloves come off and the boxing gloves slide on, all bets are off,” Varshavski said.
Quick hits
The fight between three-belt bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (23-0, 20 KOs), 29, of Japan, and WBO titlist Paul Butler (34-2, 15 KOs), 33, of England, for the undisputed title is now signed and an announcement is expected in the coming days, sources with knowledge of the deal told Fight Freaks Unite. The bout, for which Inoue will be a massive favorite, will take place on Dec. 13 in Japan, where it will stream on Amazon Prime. It will stream in the early morning hours on ESPN+ in the U.S. The bout has been in the works for weeks but Butler finally came to an agreement on his financial end of the deal. There has never been an undisputed 118-pound champion in the three- or four-belt era. The last undisputed champion was Panama’s Enrique Pinder in the two-belt era, when he unified the WBC and WBA belts in 1972.
Josh Warrington (31-1-1, 8 KOs), 31, of England, will defend the IBF featherweight title against mandatory challenger Luis Lopez (26-2, 15 KOs), 29, of Mexico, on Dec. 10 (DAZN) in the main event of a Matchroom Boxing card in Warrington’s hometown of Leeds, England, sources told Fight Freaks Unite of a fight that has not been announced yet. But, per sources, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn and Lopez promoter Top Rank made a deal recently without the need for a purse bid. Warrington will be making his first defense since reclaiming his old title in March via seventh-round knockout of Kiko Martinez. Lopez earned the title shot by knocking out Isaac Lowe in a final eliminator in December. Lopez has won two stay-busy fights since.
WBC flyweight titlist Julio Cesar Martinez is due to headline a Matchroom Boxing card on Oct. 22 (DAZN) in his home country of Mexico, sources with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite. Martinez (18-2, 14 KOs), 27, will look to rebound from a one-sided decision loss to the legendary four-division champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, who handily outpointed him on March 5 in San Diego. Martinez moved up to junior bantamweight for the nontitle fight against Gonzalez on six weeks’ notice as a replacement for Juan Francisco Estrada, who withdrew from the trilogy fight with Gonzalez due to having Covid-19.
The IBF on Wednesday notified light heavyweight contender Joshua Buatsi (16-0, 13 KOs), 29, of England, that he has been defaulted from a title eliminator against former champion Jean Pascal (36-6-1, 20 KOs), 39, of Montreal, for failing to return a signed agreement by the deadline following the Aug. 30 purse bid. Pascal promoter Lou DiBella won the purse bid for $975,000 to easily outpace an offer of $875,000 made by Buatsi promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing. Buatsi was due 60 percent of the bid total. Signed contracts were due to the IBF by Sept. 14 with the winner of the fight to become a mandatory challenger for unified champion Artur Beterbiev. Pascal’s signed contract was submitted but not Buatsi’s. Pascal will now be ordered to face the next available ranked IBF contender.
The WBC semifinal heavyweight title eliminator between former unified titlist Andy Ruiz Jr. and two-time title challenger Luis Ortiz, in which Ruiz scored two knockdowns en route to a razor-close unanimous decision Sept. 4 at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles, generated approximately 65,000 pay-per-view buys in the United States, a source with knowledge of the numbers told Fight Freaks Unite. The Premier Boxing Champions card, which sold for $74.95, was produced and distributed by Fox Sports.
Keith Connolly, who manages super middleweight Edgar Berlanga, told Fight Freaks Unite that he wants to push Berlanga promoter Top Rank to make a fight between Berlanga (20-0, 16 KOs), 25, of New York, and contender John Ryder (31-5, 17 KOs), 34, of England, who is coming off a controversial decision win over Daniel Jacobs, another Connolly client, in February. Ryder, who is said to also be interested in the fight, is with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, with whom Connolly has a close relationship. Connolly wants a step-up fight for Berlanga, who is serving a six-month suspension issued by the New York State Athletic Commission for biting Roamer Alexis Angulo during a 10-round decision win in June. He is eligible to return in December and wants the fight. “Wassup bro lets make a fight happen and whoever wins get a big fight,” Berlanga tweeted to Ryder later on Wednesday.
The Puerto Rico-based WBO on Tuesday postponed the Demetrius Andrade-Zach Parker purse bid due to the effects of Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico. The purse bid for the vacant interim super middleweight title bout was scheduled for Tuesday at the WBO offices in San Juan but has been delayed until Sept. 27. Minimum bid is $300,000. Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs), 34, of Providence, Rhode Island, recently vacated the WBO middleweight title. He and Parker (22-0, 16 KOs), 28, of England, were supposed to meet for the interim belt May 21 in England but the fight was canceled after Andrade suffered a shoulder injury.
Heavyweight Guido Vianello (9-0-1, 9 KOs), 28, a 2016 Italian Olympian signed by Top Rank out of the Olympics, will have an Italian homecoming fight when he headlines against Scotland’s Jay McFarlane (13-6, 5 KOs), 24, in an eight-rounder on Oct. 28 (ESPN+) at the Atlantico in Rome, Top Rank announced. It will be Vianello’s first professional fight in Italy.
Show and tell
With Canelo Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin III in the books, I returned home from covering the fight in Las Vegas on Sunday and a couple of days later got around to unpacking. That, of course, also included the fight stuff I picked up to add to my boxing collection. I haven’t gotten around to unrolling the posters (two different versions) but here are some other items from the fight: the official program, my ringside credential (with a very old photo from when I had brown hair), my temporary wrist band credential for fight week (not good on fight night) and an official fight pin.
Stevenson-Conceicao and Davis-Tienda photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
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PS: Great to see Dan standing up against Hearn these past 24 hours or so. About time someone [rival promoters aside] who's well respected in the industry did!
well if Shakur didn't want to leave room for excuses, he shoulda made weight. Really disappointing to see this, and more so, his cavalier attitude towards it.
beyond that, great notebook, Dan. Random reactions:
- I can't stand Berlanga (he's a dreadful watch and vastly over-rated), but I'd welcome the Ryder fight to, as they say, shit or get off the pot. Hope that happens (as much as I have energy to hope anything about Edgar Berlanga)
- There's a good chance Warrington gets upended by another Mexican in Lopez. He's on quite a roll, and Josh seems to have peaked already
- I think we all figured Eddie/Buatsi wouldn't take the Pascal fight, but I sure hope we don't get Pascal-Eifert, which could very well end with a multiple doper getting another belt.
- Hurricane Fiona doesn't even want the Andrade-Parker fight